The State Government has announced plans to redevelop Alphington Station and build around it a large, multi-storey residential/shopping precinct, based around the Wingrove Street car parking area used by rail commuters. Traders in the small Alphington Village shopping strip (located opposite the station) welcomed the development, but most residents are against it. Residents feel that the development will create congestion, have an impact on parking, lead to tree loss and the area would lose its "village feel" if the concrete apartment blocks go up.
Several residents have become very passionate about the development and are becoming organised in order to oppose it (contact this group here: asagnow@gmail.com). I feel for them, as I have gone through similar processes in my neighbourhood, but to no avail. The development will most probably go ahead, just as it did in my area. Good bye, green suburban Melbourne, welcome concrete city, full of rat cages for the rats of the rat race...
This post is part of the Signs, Signs meme.
Money talks.
ReplyDeleteThe Bushells sign intrigued me. i have not seen one like that for a long time. And so well preserved. So sad about this village area's prospects. Villages are precious sanctuaries of enchantment in this world.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pity! I do hope the residents' group is successful, even though the chances may be slim. Apartment blocks are the blight of cities and they cause so many problems. Why is Melbourne making the same mistake that other big cities in the world have made and are now admitting they have made?
ReplyDeleteI hope this fight isn't futile. Maybe some compromises can be made?
ReplyDeleteDifficult to fight land developers. Best of luck.
ReplyDeleteOverdeveloping and crowding together in urban situations, not only reduces quality of life but risks human lives as well. See:
ReplyDeletehttp://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/03/11/huge-fire-burn-san-francisco-building-under-construction-near-att-park/
Same in Sydney:
ReplyDeletehttp://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/a/21939599/crews-respond-to-fire/
If people crowd together in tenements, tragedies like this are more likely to have large numbers of victims:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/gas-blast-destroys-2-ny-buildings-3-people-230002692.html?vp=1
Melbourne USED TO BE a wonderful city with not many apartment buildings. Developments like this all over the suburbs cause overcrowding, increases in traffic, increased noise, less privacy, greater fire risk and LOWER QUALITY OF LIFE.